One of the concerns for growing areas is providing infrastructure . Long-term planning for growth must be a priority , rather than reacting to growth . We know that infrastructure for a growing region is less expensive to provide in advance of people moving in as compared to building it after people arrive . Smart local governments are providing water and sewer , electricity , roads and other infrastructure in advance of growth . However , with the high inflation that the U . S . is experiencing and the overall labor shortage , providing the needed infrastructure and services required is becoming much more expensive .
Some school districts are reporting that their schools are getting crowded or are beyond capacity . Those areas that have increased their population significantly but have not expanded companies and recruited new ones are the most concerned because their tax receipts are not growing as quickly as their expenses are .
What Florida needs to do to help this issue is expand its economic development efforts to create more jobs in Florida . Over the past few years , Florida has not maintained its ability to compete with other states for many of those highly prized competitive projects . Many companies have chosen other states for their relocation because of this reason . That is unfortunate for Florida , and especially for local governments , because the
tax revenues generated by businesses are substantial and larger than the tax revenues generated by individuals . The most recent Council on State Taxation ( COST ) estimates show that Florida businesses paid 52.9 % of all state and local taxes . When looking at only the local taxes , the number is 60.6 % that businesses pay .
We are fortunate because Florida is not expected to suffer the loss of population over the next few years . But only those regions that plan for growth , keep expanding companies and are successful in recruiting new companies will be able to thrive in the future .
Re-published from the First Coast Edition of EVOLVE .
Jerry D . Parrish , Ph . D . is an economist who is currently working with the Florida Institute of Government at Florida State University , The Able Trust and Florida ’ s Small Business Development Center ( SBDC ). Dr . Parrish is also a Faculty Adjunct in the Masters of Applied Economics Program at Florida State University . Dr . Parrish earned a B . S . in Agricultural Business and Economics from Auburn University , an M . B . A . from Bellarmine University , an M . S . in Economics from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and a Ph . D . in Economics from Auburn University .
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